LOBBYING - FROM THE K STREET CORRIDOR

The Shako­pee Mde­wakan­ton Sioux, a Min­nesota tribe that
runs the hugely suc­cess­ful Mys­tic Lake Casino in Pri­or Lake,
knows how to cause a Wash­ing­ton ruck­us. Four years ago, the
tribe’s lob­by­ing ef­fort helped per­suade the In­teri­or De­part­ment
to re­ject a rival In­di­an casino pro­ject in Hud­son, Wis. For
roughly a year, In­de­pend­ent Coun­sel Car­ol Eld­er Bruce has been
in­vest­ig­at­ing al­leg­a­tions that In­teri­or Sec­ret­ary Bruce E.
Bab­bitt denied the casino li­cense be­cause the tribes op­pos­ing the
pro­pos­al con­trib­uted $ 400,000 to Demo­crats in 1995-96.

This time around, however, mem­bers of the Shako­pee tribe
are fight­ing one an­oth­er. Two mem­bers of the tribe—Wini­fred
Freezor and Cecil­ia St. Pierre—say the In­teri­or De­part­ment has
al­lowed cor­rup­tion among tri­bal lead­ers to go un­checked . Since
1992, the two al­lege, the tri­bal coun­cil has al­lowed more than
350 ad­op­tions by Shako­pee mem­bers. Each ad­op­tee is a tri­bal
mem­ber and is en­titled to roughly $ 700,000 a year from the
casino. Many of the ad­op­tees, Freezor and St. Pierre con­tend,
don’t meet the tribe’s con­sti­tu­tion­al re­quire­ment that its
mem­bers be one-quarter Shako­pee. (The fed­er­al ap­peals court in
Min­neapol­is has ruled that the tri­bal coun­cil can set mem­ber­ship
re­quire­ments.) The is­sue is ”greed, pure and simple,” Freezor
said. The two have hired the Wash­ing­ton of­fice of the Rich­mond,
Va.-based law firm of McGuire, Woods, Battle & Boothe to press
the is­sue with In­teri­or and with the House Re­sources Com­mit­tee.
The duo ”don’t want to dis­par­age their tribe, but they feel
le­git­im­ate mem­bers of the tribe have lost all rights,” said
Eliza­beth T. Walk­er, a vice pres­id­ent with McGuire Woods’ fed­er­al
pub­lic af­fairs group. Mean­while, the Min­neapol­is Star Tribune has
re­por­ted that a fed­er­al grand jury in the in­de­pend­ent-coun­sel
in­vest­ig­a­tion has sub­poenaed the tribe’s en­roll­ment re­cords.

"The Trump administration is putting pressure on Senate Republicans to crack down on Democratic efforts to delay its agenda, fueling talk about the need for rules reform among Republicans on Capitol Hill. Republicans are in discussions with Democrats about bipartisan changes to Senate rules to speed up consideration of President Trump’s judicial and executive branch nominees, but if that effort flounders — as similar ones have in the past — they’re not ruling out unilateral action."

Source:

WOULD THEY BE ENFORCEABLE?

Trump Had Staff Sign Nondisclosure Agreements

22 minutes ago

THE DETAILS

During his campaign, Donald Trump indicated to Washington Post reporters that he'd like to have White House employees sign nondisclosure agreements. That is, in fact, what he's done, according to a scoop by the Post's Ruth Marcus. "Some balked at first but, pressed by then-Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and the White House Counsel’s Office, ultimately complied, concluding that the agreements would likely not be enforceable in any event." The administration intended the agreements to remain in force beyond Trump's tenure. An early draft included penalties of up to $10 million.

Source:

BREAKS FROM WHITE HOUSE

Rubio Says McCabe Should Have Been Allowed to Retire

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THE LATEST

UNLIKELY TO GET CONGRESSIONAL SUPPORT

Trump Asking for Bill to “Break the WTO”

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"Trump is asking for a bill" that would effectively break the WTO. One of the core WTO principles — which has underpinned globalization and trade for 70 years — is an idea called 'most favored nation status.' Countries that belong to the WTO have all agreed to charge the same tariff rate for imports from all other WTO members." But Trump covets reciprocal tariffs "nation-by-nation, product-by-product." The GOP free-traders in Congress are unlikely to support such an effort.